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Tag: Trusts

Going on vacation entails lots of planning: packing luggage, buying plane tickets, making hotel reservations, and confirming rental vehicles. But one thing many people forget to do is plan for the worst. Traveling, especially in foreign destinations, means you’ll likely be at greater risk than usual for illness, injury, and even death. In light of… Read more »

In the first part of this series, we discussed the first three of six questions you should ask yourself when selecting a life insurance beneficiary. http://rantala.com/blog/2019/04/02/6-questions-to-consider-when-selecting-beneficiaries-for-a-life-insurance-policy/ Here we cover the final half. Selecting a beneficiary for your life insurance policy sounds straightforward. But given all the options available and the potential for unforeseen problems, it… Read more »

Selecting a beneficiary for your life insurance policy sounds pretty straightforward. You’re just deciding who will receive the policy’s proceeds when you die, right? But as with most things in life, it’s a bit more complicated than that. It can help to keep in mind that naming someone as your life insurance beneficiary really has… Read more »

Being asked by a family member or close friend to serve as trustee for their trust upon their death can be an incredible honor. At the same time, however, serving as a trustee can be a massive responsibility—and the role is not for everyone. In fact, depending on the type of trust, the assets held… Read more »

In late February, Luke Perry, who became famous starring in the 1990s TV series Beverly Hills 90210, suffered a massive stroke at age 52. He was hospitalized under heavy sedation, and five days later, when it became clear he wouldn’t recover, his family decided to remove life support. Perry died on March 4th, 2019 surrounded by… Read more »

Like many taxpayers, if you’ve already filed your federal income taxes for 2018, you may be surprised to discover you’re not getting a refund this time. If so, this was almost certainly due to the sweeping tax overhaul made by the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA). Since personal tax rates were lowered by… Read more »

Even if you put a solid estate plan in place, it can end up proving worthless if it’s not properly updated. Estate planning is not a one-and-done type of deal: It should continuously evolve along with your life circumstances. No matter who you are, your life will inevitably change: families change, laws change, assets change,… Read more »

Unlike most of your assets, individual retirement accounts (IRAs) do not pass to your family through a will. Instead, upon your death, your IRA will pass directly to the people you named via your IRA beneficiary designation form. Unless you take extra steps, the named beneficiary can do whatever he or she wants with the account’s… Read more »

The recent death of the CEO of QuadrigaCX, a major cryptocurrency exchange in Canada, demonstrates a basic, yet often-overlooked, tenet of effective estate planning: In the event of your incapacity or death, if your heirs don’t know how to find or access your assets, those assets are as good as gone. Indeed, it’s as if… Read more »

In the first part of this series, we discussed how today’s children are increasingly influenced more by their peers than their parents. http://rantala.com/blog/2019/02/05/reclaim-your-role-as-your-childs-primary-influence-part-1/ In today’s society, the once-unbreakable bond between parent and child is being increasingly eroded. This disconnect is wreaking havoc on children’s psychological development, while making parents feel powerless to get through to… Read more »

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